Why did President Clinton release these terrorists?

Even the Department of Justice said that terrorism was bound to rise if they were released --

"At the same hearing, Holder released the Five-Year Interagency Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan. The plan, issued under Attorney General Janet Reno's authority, states that the pending release of FALN members would heighten the risk of domestic terrorism. FALN was involved in 130 bombings in the late 1970s and early 1980s that left six dead and many injured."

I just can't help thinking we are going to be hearing from them soon --

bj

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Updated: Friday, March 03, 2000, 4:04:17 PM EDT

http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc366.asp

FALN Members Got Special Treatment, New Documents Show

by Sarah Jenislawski

Oct. 21, 1999 -- Members of the Puerto Rican nationalist group Armed Forces of National Liberation who received presidential clemency in August were given special treatment by the Justice Department in obtaining the reductions in their sentences, according to documents released at a Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called the hearing to investigate whether the Justice Department followed established procedures for handling clemency matters in regard to the members of the group commonly known as FALN.

Although both houses of Congress have passed bipartisan resolutions condemning President Clinton's commutations of the FALN prisoners' sentences, Clinton has successfully invoked the doctrine of executive privilege in preventing Congress from investigating his reasons or evidence for granting the pardon. However, at Wednesday's hearing, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder released documents showing that although the department originally recommended no clemency for the FALN activists, White House interest in their situation led Justice officials to take extraordinary measures to help the prisoners increase their chances of clemency.

Pardons usually are granted only after a prisoner initiates the process by personally applying for clemency, cooperating with law enforcement or expressing remorse for criminal activity in a written statement. Each of those actions usually helps a clemency bid by demonstrating the prisoner's remorse for any wrongdoing.

However, the Justice Department documents show that FALN members took none of those steps before receiving clemency. Although FALN members were urged by Justice officials to express remorse for their actions in writing, they declined to do so. Under continued pressure to write a letter of remorse, the FALN prisoners issued a statement noting that "innocent victims were on all sides."

The news that exceptions were made in paving the way for clemency for the FALN members does not sit well with Congress, especially given new information that the Justice Department considers their release a serious domestic terrorist threat.

At the same hearing, Holder released the Five-Year Interagency Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan. The plan, issued under Attorney General Janet Reno's authority, states that the pending release of FALN members would heighten the risk of domestic terrorism. FALN was involved in 130 bombings in the late 1970s and early 1980s that left six dead and many injured.

In addition to the documents released by Holder, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been examining tapes of telephone calls made by imprisoned FALN members. Bureau officials have told Newsweek magazine that some of the prisoners said they would plan more violent acts if freed.